Week of November 16

Sir: I lost both my wallet and prescription sunglasses in the parking lot of a city grocery store on Nov. 1

I would like to thank the person who left the wallet on the corner of Hilary and Maxwell streets. I would also like to thank the cat lover who found it there and returned it to the police station.

Be assured, your cats at the Humane Society will be getting a double helping of the love you and wife provide each month.

Also, my thanks to the management of the store for helping me, and for the excellent work of the Sarnia Police constable who returned the wallet to me.

I still don’t have my sunglasses, though. They are Rudy Project prescription sunglasses in a black case. If anyone happens to find them, please call 519-381-5632.

Leo Desjardine

Sarnia

Underhanded tactics not helpful during college strike

Editor’s note: This letter was received prior to a contract vote scheduled for this week.

Sir: I am a student at Lambton College. As we enter the fourth week of a legal strike, I have become disheartened that a resolution will be forthcoming any time soon.

I am not writing to debate the issues central to the contract negotiations. I see merit in both the Faculty and Ontario Colleges’ positions. What I would like to deconstruct are the manipulation tactics the Ontario Colleges have employed thus far.

After two and a half weeks of refusing to negotiate with OPSEU, Ontario Colleges asked the Labour Relations Board to force the Faculty vote on a contract after only a few days at the negotiation table.

In my opinion, this turn of events was not done because the details were mutually bargained, but because Ontario Colleges has yet to be able to place enough negative light and blame on the faculty.

Students have been told in a feigned sense of goodwill that Ontario Colleges have asked OPSEU members to return to the classroom while the contract vote takes place.

This allows the Colleges to publicly call out the Faculty on not putting the students first; all the while knowing wholeheartedly the union would never and could never allow the faculty to return without a contract. Doing so would give up the one bargaining advantage they have.

I would like to see negotiations resume in good faith, but with these underhanded displays I fear we are a long way from that happening.

Students should not be pawns in this game being played with our education.

Laura Baker

2nd year BScN student

Lambton College

Mayor shouldn’t be flying over federal government’s territory

Sir: I think Mayor Bradley meant well by sending a letter to the federal government about noisy jets flying over our city, after a receiving a few complains from citizens.

But in my humble opinion I think the mayor should have advised those citizens to send their complains to Marilyn Gladu, the MP for Sarnia-Lambton. She, not the mayor, represents us in Ottawa.

Receiving a letter from the mayor gives the impression the majority of citizens complained about the noise, which is not the case. The mayor should stick to the job to which he was elected.

Maybe reading the Municipal Act would help the mayor find out what the job really entails.

A.T. Huizinga

Sarnia

Thank you for remembering our local veterans

Sir: Please extend a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to authors Tom Slater and Lou Giancarlo for caring so dearly about the men and women who have sacrificed, as well as those currently protecting our Canadian freedoms.

Remembrance Day was Nov. 11th, but their sacrifices remain in our hearts every day of the year.

Thank you Sarnia Journal, for your “Sarnia Remembers” tribute, and to its many sponsors.

We will never forget.

Sincerely,

Alice Frew,

On behalf of the Gerald Kelly Clan

Sarnia

Writer says ‘fat farms’ are needed to address obesity

Sir: There is a group of people in Alberta who are claiming that their health care system is discriminating against them. These people are all over weight, and in some cases obese.

They claim their hospitals do not have wide enough beds, or wheelchairs, and that the toilets are too small.

Hospitals all across Canada are struggling to provide decent health care while not going too far in debt. I don’t believe people are born fat. They get that way by putting more food in their mouths than their bodies can handle.

My solution would be to send them all to fat farms. These farms would be situated on military barracks, using the accommodations left empty by our military personnel serving overseas. If people are fat, they should quit whining and pay the consequences.

There is a Canadian brewery that recently purchased a large amount of stock in a company that is legally growing marijuana. It’s just a guess on my part, but I can see the brewers’ chemists experimenting with how many drops of marijuana a bottle of beer will take without changing the taste. If my thinking is right, in time you may be able to get drunk and high at the same time.

Our elected leaders are letting us down. No one wants to see Donald Trump types running our country, but I am getting fed up with Trudeau, Wynne and Bradley.

James Clarkson

Sarnia

City councillors don’t listen to the people who elected them

Sir: City Coun. Matt Mitro recently said that because the proposed tree bylaw has been shelved he thinks this is obvious proof that ‘they’ (the councillors) are listening to what the public wants.

Too little, too late, councillor!

The current council has never listened to the residents of Sarnia. There are so many major projects that council and city management have forged ahead on, with great incompetence, without our input or agreement for all the extremely high expenditure.

Look at all the millions lost on the Sarnia General Hospital site, where bonuses have been offered to private developers; Centennial Park, which is a disaster and still not finished; Sarnia Harbour – still not finished and even more money being sunk right there. And the list goes on.

Coun. Mitro said, quote: “If by some gift of God, we can find some money, local roads would be the first place to spend it.”

If they can find some money? Is he kidding?! Plenty of money was there before this council and the unelected city management started spending exorbitantly, and leaving us deeper and deeper in debt, without the reserve funds to take care of the city infrastructure.

If council had been listening to the electorate, and gained our feedback on every capital project, we wouldn’t be in such a financial mess. But, NO, we’ve been totally ignored! There’s more collective experience and expertise among the residents of Sarnia, than exists on council or in City Hall.

Ignorance and power are definitely not a good union. Be rid of the dictatorship. Return our democracy! Prove you are really listening, council, by leaving the paper ballots as one of our options for the November 2018 election!!

Margaret Bird

Bright’s Grove

Go someplace dangerous, get tortured, become a millionaire

Sir: A growing number of people are finding a way to fill their pockets. No, it’s not a lottery win, it’s going after big bucks from Canadian taxpayers.

First it was Maher Arar, who smiled from ear to ear after collecting millions of taxpayers’ dollars for his claim of being tortured when he chose to go a risky part of the world.

Then it was Omar Khadr, who walked away with a cool $10.5 million, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed to think was a bargain to avoid additional court costs. Another happy millionaire.

More recently, $31 million was paid to Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin, who claimed they were tortured in Syria and Egypt.

There is yet another $50 million claim by Djamel Ameziane, who says he suffered abuse at the hands of American security forces after leaving Canada 15 years ago.

He says he is “struggling to survive,” can’t find a job, and at age 50 is seeking a settlement that would be very helpful to get his life back together.

Wow. Fifty million dollars would be very helpful to anyone to get their life back together. It could solve the problems of so many Canadian veterans who find themselves jobless, homeless and traumatized to the point of suicide.

The government started a trend by not fighting the first claim. If there is a problem with the law that allows the courts to make such unacceptable decisions, it should have been fixed right after Arar’s big payout.

If people choose to travel to a country where their safety is endangered, they do so at their own risk. Why don’t they claim damages in the country their claim of torture occurred? Probably because it’s so easy to do so in Canada. It’s beginning to sound like a scam.

Trudeau has said there are consequences whenever the government fails to defend the rights of its citizens. Somehow, this group of citizens seems to be getting more than its rights defended.

It’s time Trudeau got his act together and showed some concern for the poor, outraged, beleaguered Canadian taxpayers.